1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to the field of computer-based agricultural reporting systems. More specifically, the present invention is a Web-based interactive reporting system that provides enhanced functionality, improved reliability, better access, and greater control over the data gathering and reporting functions than heretofore available.
2. Description of the Related Art
Agriculture is the backbone of any civilization. Without sufficient food, the citizens will at first be less productive and less healthy. With further shortages, citizens may revolt and bring down the society. Unfortunately, the basic provision of food has become more and more complex as civilizations have become more advanced and as world population has grown. The days of migrant civilizations or small, isolated farms are past, and most modern nations recognize the need and importance of coordinating the food supply to insure the health and well-being of the people of world.
Because of the importance of agriculture to all modern nations, there has been much interest in systems and methods which can be beneficial to the forecasting and monitoring of agricultural products, agricultural production, and related environmental data. The users of this information are diverse and significant. National governments have a direct interest, as already noted, for the preservation of the civilization and the prevention of uprisings. As a part of this interest, federal assistance is frequently provided to farmers in areas or regions that experience unusual or extreme conditions or that are ravaged by other natural disasters. This federal assistance ensures more complete land utilization than would otherwise occur, since the availability of federal assistance allows farmers to utilize areas that may occasionally be affected by droughts or floods for agricultural purposes. Without the federal assistance, in times of droughts or floods these farmers would otherwise be bankrupt. Yet, these regions that are occasionally affected by either flooding or drought often prove to be important to the overall food supply when general conditions are opposite of these local areas. For example, in times of drought low lying areas such as river flood plains that are often the first to flood may be the only regions to produce bumper crops. In times of wide area flooding, regions that experience droughts may be the only areas producing bumper crops. The assessment by a federal government of what constitutes unusual or extreme conditions can only be made based upon historical data or current information taken across a geographic region which is much larger than the affected area.
Food storage and international imports and exports are also frequently controlled or regulated by a national government. The flow of food in and out of the country will depend upon forecasts or expectations of agricultural production. The correct management of agricultural products has great consequence to the entire nation. Even in very recent history, nations have collapsed due to widespread droughts, floods, and blights. However, with good prediction methods, a nation""s government may have sufficient opportunity to take actions to help alleviate an agricultural shortfall and stave off any serious adverse economic impact.
State and local governments often will have interests similar to those of a national or federal government. Once again, it is in the best interests of the state and local governments to insure utilization of all lands suited for beneficial agricultural production. The probability of short-term, quite serious environmental conditions is also much greater for smaller regions than for entire nations. Furthermore, states and local governments may have direct interest in the agricultural data for determining efficacy of various programs such as crop development directed towards the specific climate of a local or state region. Comparative agricultural data may reveal, for example, that an adjacent state, region or locale has better yields or production. This information may then be used to develop better agricultural practices within the local area, through educational programs and agricultural extension assistance, or to encourage research into new crop varieties better suited to the local climate.
A number of diverse businesses also depend upon agriculture as a primary source of revenue. Grain elevators, shipping and freight businesses, machine implement dealers, harvesting services, crop dusters, and agricultural suppliers are only a small sampling of the industries directly affected by current agricultural conditions. Depending upon the locale, even businesses such as financial institutions and retail outlets may be significantly impacted by local current agricultural conditions. These businesses make use of agricultural information in different ways, depending upon the business. For example, a crop duster or other agricultural service provider may be able to determine the status of fields in various localities, and schedule for the provision of services in those localities based upon the status information. So, for example, if a crop status report reveals that the majority of a county will be ready for a particular chemical application in one week, when a farmer within that county calls to schedule services, the crop duster might schedule that farmer for application in one week, expecting to schedule with other farmers in that same county during the same trip. In that way, agricultural service providers can provide their services most economically.
Farmers also have many uses for agricultural information. Among these are comparative evaluations of an individual""s practices to those of the entire county, region or state. For example, the benefit of a change to a different hybrid variety might be very difficult to evaluate without the opportunity to compare to similar crops within the county, region or state. In addition, many farmers have some capability to self-store agricultural products or delay the harvest of those products. In the event a farmer determines that a bumper crop is being harvested by other farmers, the farmer may choose to store that particular crop, rather than sending the harvested crop to the marketplace. In the case of livestock, the farmer may simply elect to continue to feed and support the livestock on his farm.
Presently, the information delivered to a farmer through existing channels is the local, state and/or national price for various types and grades of agricultural products or commodities. The largest media channel for this type of information has historically been the radio, which in agricultural areas will normally include a farm report each day that consumes a significant amount of time. The farm report often includes an audible presentation of current prices and values for most farm products. This source of agricultural information has several drawbacks, not the least of which is the need to be listening to the radio at the right time. Furthermore, it is hard to compare the local values with values found throughout the state or region or to historical values when the data is presented through the radio. These radio broadcast farm reports, instead of being convenient, typically require a farmer to devote full time and attention to the broadcast, and to keep meticulous notes for future reference. What is missing from this broadcast system is a way for diverse users that range from federal bureaucrats to non-agricultural business owners to quickly get important information, while still providing a level of detail adequate to satisfy the needs of a single farmer looking for detailed information specific to his particular agricultural product.
Rather than advancing the assembly and presentation of agricultural data to address the needs of these diverse users, technology to date has focused much more on tools designed solely for farmers, agronomists and dealers directly assisting those farmers. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,069 to Clark, Jr. et al and incorporated herein in entirety by reference, a hand-held computer is used by each participating farmer for the collection of field data. This data stored in the hand-held computer is then transferred to a desktop PC which may be located, for example, in the farmer""s home or office. From there, the data is transmitted in batch mode through a mail-type system such as MCI-Mail, and used to assemble a master database. The type of data that is collected includes field operations and daily weather data. However, the statistical analysis and reporting available in the Clark system does not address the needs of the diverse range of agricultural data users that are noted herein above, nor are the displays optimized for rapid loading and display by the user. Furthermore, the data that is being collected is restricted to soil types, crops, farm operations such as tilling, cultivating, etc., various chemicals applied, and diseases and infestations which are encountered, which is specific to the needs of a farmer, such as reporting to the EPA and selecting particular fertilizers or herbicides.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,418 to Monson, an agricultural communication network is disclosed for gathering agronomic data pertaining to specific soil types and conditions, which is then used by an agronomist or soil scientist to generate reports or recommendations for the most effective farming techniques. Data such as the soil type, soil conditions, fertilizer levels and the yield are passed through the Internet to a middle level dealer system, and finally from multiple dealers to a master database used by the agronomist for evaluation. However, like the Clark patent, this method is once again directed to relatively limited needs specific to a farmer, such as selecting particular chemical applications.
What is needed then is an agricultural reporting system which is capable of providing diverse agricultural information to a very diverse set of users in a manner which will be easily understood and readily used by all.
In a first manifestation, the invention is a method for agricultural collection and reporting. The method includes the steps of creating a master database for storing agricultural data; providing a temporary table which acts as a repository for data; dividing a geographic region into a plurality of reporting units; generating an outline for one of the reporting units; collecting agricultural data describing an agricultural characteristic of the reporting unit into the temporary table; transferring agricultural data from temporary table to master database; receiving a query about one of the reporting units; retrieving agricultural data from the master database; converting the agricultural data to a color value; and displaying a reporting unit filled with the color.
In a second manifestation, the invention is an apparatus for agricultural data collection and agricultural information reporting to a client through the Internet. The apparatus has an Internet gateway which couples to agricultural data passing through the net. In the data collection portion of the apparatus, a temporary repository stores a portion of the data passing through the gateway, where a means evaluates the probability for errors within the stored data and indicates that probability. A means alters the data responsive to the probability indicated by the evaluating means. A permanent database stores the altered data. In the reporting portion of the apparatus, a geographic area is divided into outlined reporting units. A query processing unit converts input from a client into database queries and provides database output responsive to those queries. A means converts the database output into a colored display of the outlined reporting units, for easy review by the client.
A first object of the invention is to provide an agricultural reporting system which is capable of providing diverse agricultural information. A second object of the invention is to provide the information to a very diverse set of users in a manner which will be easily understood and readily used by all. A third object of the invention is to enable reporting of flexibly defined regions, depending upon the needs of each particular user. An additional object of the invention is to enable data to be input from a number of sources. Yet another object of the invention is to enable the input data to be verified prior to posting or combining with the main database. A further object of the invention is to automate as many functions and capabilities as reasonably possible, to reduce the burden of generating and reporting the data. Another object of the invention is to represent a very large amount of data in a format which quickly transfers that information to the user, while preserving simple or one-step access to greater levels of detail or more specific information. These and other objects are achieved in the present invention, which may be best understood by the following detailed description and drawings.